Still Waters
by Kida Greenleaf
Summary: What happened to Haku after Chihiro left him? Things take a dark turn in the Spirit World.


AUTHOR NOTES: This story takes place right after the ending of the film. Thus it is chock full of SPOILERS!  
  
I do not own any of these characters. They are the flawless creations of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. If you have not yet seen "Spirited Away," go now. Drop everything. Just go. You will thank me.  
  
Please not that I am using the character names as they appeared in the English-dubbed version of the movie ('Lin', not 'Rin' for example). If it bothers you, try to ignore it.  
  
This is a Haku-centric, serious story. It will contain some violence in upcoming chapters. When you finish, please let me know what you think.  
  
CHAPTER I: The Beginning of the End  
  
Haku had stood still as a column, watching Chihiro and her parents disappear over the emerald hillside, then beyond, impossibly tiny, vanishing into the red façade of the false train station. Once the girl had paused and his heart had leapt with both fear and guilty hope-that maybe, just maybe, she might look back. Then she had regained her strength and stamina. She controlled herself to his relief and unending sorrow, and she did not cast her eyes upon the spirit world again.  
  
Haku smiled, a great weight gone from his chest, but a new strain tugging at his heart. For now he knew who he was. Now nothing would be the same. Or would it? What could be bright or happy without Chihiro, without the smiling face and constant loyalty of little Sen?  
  
That was not what she meant to leave behind. He must keep her memory unstained. That was all he could do for her now. Now he needed to tend to himself.  
  
* * *  
  
"I don't like your smug expression, Haku." Yubaba looked up from her desk and furrowed her brow. "It is not at all becoming." Yet the boy's calm, measured air did not fade at her command. There was something eerie about the flicker in her servant's eyes. She stared at him, confounded, and then spat, "Well, what is it? What, what, what?"  
  
"Chihiro is gone," he said rhetorically.  
  
"Good riddance," Yubaba sneered, well aware that she was egging him on.  
  
"But she left something with me."  
  
The witch rolled her eyes and went back to her paperwork. "That's nice. Unless it's gold, why should I care?"  
  
She saw him take a step forward out of the corner of her eye-a well- paced step, a confident step. The lead on her pencil snapped.  
  
"She left me my name."  
  
Yubaba's eyes flew up. There was a whir of life throughout the room, stirred by her agitated magic. Papers and coins spiraled around the little tableau. Yet Haku's face remained placid. Was that a ghost of a smile on his lips?  
  
"Nonsense! She is but a clumsy little girl with unusually good luck on her side. I *own* you Haku. I have complete dominion over your name. I sealed it away from you long ago, when you first came here." She smiled conceitedly. "A pathetic little lost spirit, wandering around with a stupid, dazed expression: you were fortunate. I should have never agreed to make you my apprentice. It has obviously gone to your head. Now you are dismissed. I shall find a new replacement for you and-"  
  
"Save your breath. I came to quit."  
  
Her blood boiled. A spark escaped from the corner of her mouth. A tendril of her hair unwound, whipping in the magic storm. Dangerously, she whispered through her self-generated smoke, "I do not grant you your freedom, Haku."  
  
"Kohaku."  
  
She froze.  
  
"My name is Kohaku, Yubaba. I am the spirit of the river of the same name. I may be nothing in comparison to the great River God, and my home may have been destroyed by the humans many years ago, but I remain a water dragon of formidable strength."  
  
"*Formidable*?" Yubaba scoffed, rising from her seat. Torrents of smoke poured from her mouth. More strands of hair freed themselves, waving around her head like Medusa's snakes. "You are *Haku*. You shall remain Haku until *I* lift the spell upon you."  
  
"I am not yours to command any longer." His voice, loud and steady, echoed through the room.  
  
Yubaba flew over her desk, sprinting to the boy before her. Yet as her long, vine-like hair reached for his throat, something remarkable happened. Haku held out his hand, palm out, and simply said, "No." The snaking tresses clung to the air around him, but not one hair touched him. It was as though he shielded by a globe of watery glass-he was visible but untouchable. Yubaba shrieked.  
  
"You use your gifts unwisely, Haku!"  
  
"Kohaku," he gently corrected.  
  
"NO!" Yubaba yelled. "I will not have it!" Fire shot from her jaws. Her irises turned a molten red. She thrust out a long pointed finger and aimed it at Haku's chest. "I call upon the power vested in me, Yubaba of the Arburaya. May the great spirits of creation here my plea and grant me the energy to *punish* this sniveling little dissenter!"  
  
Haku's smiled faltered a little. Then his eyes went wide with fear. There was the loud sound of shattering glass. Shards of pale blue light collapsed around his feet. Yubaba reacted and wound her hair around his limbs.  
  
Haku fought back. He was never one to rebel and now the strength and ferocity that he showed was frightening. But Yubaba was indeed a witch of long study and great power. Her grip was strong as a vice and cruel.  
  
"Submit," she hissed through flames.  
  
He twisted, trying to bring his hands up, trying to summon another spell, trying to call upon his river kindred to aid him. But Yubaba set up wards all around her office. The three green heads bobbed excitedly. Their expressionless faces almost looked like they might be smiling. Haku yanked himself back, but he was not strong enough.  
  
"Submit!"  
  
Yubaba laughed, not yet seeing his cleverness. She raised her talons again, this time willing to strike, willing to leave something ugly and permanent that this little upstart would never forget.  
  
But Haku had one more trick up his sleeve. Worn out and gasping for breath, he wordlessly shook his head and tugged his bound hands up with the last of his strength. Then he shut his eyes an exhaled.  
  
Yubaba realized too late.  
  
Haku transformed into his silvery-white dragon form. The long body of his other being was too much for Yubaba to hold-he burst free of her strangling hair and scalding breath and flew up and away. His long tail smashed her backwards. As Yubaba tried to recover from the blow, the dragon's neck craned and he reared up, teeth bared, ready to strike like a cobra.  
  
Yubaba threw up her hands. "You wouldn't, Haku!" She whimpered, "You wouldn't do that-to-to little, old Yubaba!"  
  
Haku paused.  
  
Yubaba saw her chance. "Did I say Haku? I meant *Kohaku*."  
  
The dragon swayed in the air, unsure of his next move.  
  
"That's right, Kohaku. That's who you are. That's your name." She spread her arms, smiling meekly, motioning to him like a puppy. Her mussed hair flew up, falling back into place in a tight bun on the top of her head. "You win, you win."  
  
Haku stared long and hard at the compliant witch. Then cautiously, he transformed back into his boy form, his leafy eyes wild with elation and adrenalin. But he did not come forward when she beckoned him.  
  
"I have acknowledged your name, Kohaku. The worst part is over. But for me to break the spell away from you, you must come here. You must press your palm against mine."  
  
The boy hesitated, unbelieving.  
  
"It is the only way, Kohaku."  
  
He was far too trusting, far too fair-hearted for his own good. He nodded, eased by the sound of his name on his master's wicked tongue, and took his first steps toward her, slow but yielding. And once more he extended his hand palm out, but this time not in a gesture of defense but one of submission.  
  
Yubaba stepped forward, too, and placed her large hand over Haku's, swallowing up his small one. For a moment, nothing seemed amiss. But the air changed. Haku gasped and tried to pull back, but Yubaba held on tightly.  
  
"I bind you to me, Kohaku. I bind you by your wretched name-your meaningless name, the name of a pathetic little river that was paved over long ago. You shall suffer for your disobedience. You shall be forever enslaved in this bathhouse."  
  
Haku's mouth was slightly open, his head slightly moving from side to side in disbelief.  
  
"And you shall no longer be in the high-powered position as my apprentice or even as my assistant. Indeed, *henchman* is too goodly a name for you. You shall become the lowest member of this staff. I will work you until you fade away." She paused, gloating, for effect. "For even if I were to set you free, *Haku*, you would have no home to go to." She laughed long and hard. "And that horrid little Chihiro, long gone by now, will grow to forget you. She will dismiss you as the creation of some crazy childhood dream." She crushed his hand. "You-will-*fade*."  
  
The spell and the curse were complete.  
  
Yubaba uncurled her fingers and Haku's hand fell out, limp and flaccid. Yubaba did not spare him a look. She turned and returned to her desk, waving her hands, flicking her wrists, sending all the upset objects in her lavish room back to their proper places. Yet Haku stood rooted with despair, his yes stinging with tears that he would never allow to fall in front of Yubaba. Despite the rushing energy all around him, he felt very alone and small. Silence filled his ears.  
  
A memory of the last hour flashed before him.  
  
'Will I ever see you again?'  
  
'I'm sure of it. Now go on. Don't look back.'  
  
She smiled. He could see that one day she would be very, very beautiful.  
  
And he had let go, and she had run on, not seeing his hand left suspended after her.  
  
"What is your name?" the witch demanded.  
  
He let out a shuddering breath and with it a soft sound.  
  
"I cannot hear you!" she barked.  
  
"Haku," he said, though it sounded more like a groan, the mournful flow of water over stones. "My name.is.Haku."  
  
Yubaba grinned a serpent's smile: no lips or gums, only teeth, only piercing, cruel eyes. "That's right. You are Haku. Nothing more." She steepled her hands together, her face twisting into a wider sadistic grin. "As you shall always be."  
  
Thus began seven years of sorrow.  
  
-Fin-  
  
Review, s'il vous plaît. 


End file.
